This approval in principle, the fifth issued so far, follows four other approvals in principle to obtain a license for credit data services that were issued in the past few months to “BDI Copas Ltd.” and “D&B Credit Data Company Ltd.” (from the Dun and Bradstreet Group), which operate as credit bureaus pursuant to the Credit Data Law from 2002; “Partix Scoring Ltd.” from the “Partix” Group, which deals with consulting to financial institutions in the field of credit and model development; and “Minufim Credit Ltd.”, the owners of which provide delivery of legal documents.
The credit bureaus will improve the underwriting processes of credit providers through the use of data from the Central Credit Register for the purpose of creating a credit rating, and will provide consulting services to customers to help them improve their terms of credit.
The approvals issued constitute an important stage in building the overall credit data sharing array pursuant to the Credit Data Law, the establishment of credit bureaus and positioning them as central players in the system. The companies that have obtained approval in principle may begin business and operational preparations so that when the Central Credit Register goes online, they will be able to provide services pursuant to the law to both credit providers and the public. It is noted that the approval in principle is not a license, and only companies that complete their preparations and fulfill the criteria set pursuant to the law will be able to obtain a credit data service license when the time is right.
The Bank of Israel is currently completing the formulation of a work plan with the credit bureaus and a definition of how they will work with the Central Credit Register, in parallel with progress in the process of building the Register.
The Supervisor of Credit Data Sharing, Mr. Tzuriel Tamam, said, “The granting of an approval in principle to five significant entities who are interested in operating in this field so far marks significant progress on the way to achieving the target of sophistication of the retail credit market and increasing competition in it.”